Liberty’s 14-3 victory over Easton last Thursday at Easton was a huge confidence boost for the Hurricanes to start the 2017 softball season.

“I think their confidence went way up, not overconfident, but good,” said Liberty head coach Sam Carrodo, who is beginning his third season with the Hurricanes.

“We knew Easton played Central Bucks South the day before and beat them, and Central Bucks South has a pretty good team. So we came out and did what we did, and I was very happy, but, yes, I was a little bit surprised with the amount of runs we scored.”

Returning for the Hurricanes are Kristin Kaleycik at third base, Reyna DeJesus in center field, Cailin Donegan at catcher, Jess Boyer at first base, Miranda Kinney at first base, and Keri Appleman, Skilee Diaz, and Mikayla Ruppert, all in the outfield.

Newcomers are Alexa Burger at shortstop, Paige Zigmund at pitcher, Brooke Zigmund at second base, Sidney Tomac at pitcher, and Kyla Benner, also at pitcher.

New to Carrodo’s coaching staff are assistants Jillian Cabrera, former head softball coach at Allen, and Dior George, former Liberty and Moravian College softball player.

Liberty’s captains are Kaleycik, Donegan, and Brooke Zigmund.

Paige Zigmund pitched three innings on Thursday against the Red Rovers, and Tomac pitched two.

“We should have a good defense behind our pitcher. We lacked offense last year and if we can hit this year, we could make some noise,” Carrodo said. “I am looking forward to the challenge this year will bring. Hopefully, we won’t get more games rained out.”

Liberty has a challenging schedule early, but having defeated Easton last week, the Hurricanes are ready for this week’s schedule which includes Nazareth, Bethlehem Catholic, and possibly Parkland, followed by Allentown Central Catholic next week.

“We are going to overcome each obstacle as they appear in front of us, whether it’s innings, at bats, each one. We will deal with it at that time,” said Carrodo.

The Hurricanes will host the Blue Eagles on Wednesday and Becahi on Thursday before traveling to Central next Tuesday.